Treatments for Degenerative disc disease....

Question

Hi..I live in the US (bad, bad healthcare system) I am currently on disability, and fairly poor. I have thoracic degeneration. I was on Vicodin ES for almost three years, worked ok, then stopped working. Doc, put me on Fentanyl patches and percocet. I lost it. Extreme depression and weight gain. Decided to put myself into a detox house to cleanse my system of all meds. It has been almost 3 months and the pain is severe again. I have already tried over the counter meds, but when I do that it takes about 8 tylenol to even touch the pain. I am single mom raising children alone and much work is needed to be done. Any suggestions (besides moving out of US) for help immediately for the pain? It is very depressing, and causes mild bouts of anger. This is not good....Any advice I would appreciate, thank you.

Sincerely

K~

Answer 1

There are some surgical procedures that might be in order to get you some more permanent relief.  Unfortunately surgery will also take some recovery time, and you wouldn't be in a position to care for the children much at all unless you had help.  The surgical solutions you could consider would be costotransversectomy and discectomy,

transthoracic decompression, video assisted thoracoscopy surgery (VATS) and fusion of the discs.  Those surgeries all have some permanent effects on your range of motion, and may not end all your need for pain medications, although you should require much less and probably not the strong narcotics.  At the moment, though, I can't tell you which procedure would be the ideal because that depends on where and how bad the degeneration is.  You should be seeing an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in spinal problems, as that's the only one who can really give you good answers.  If your present doctor isn't filling the bill, then you need to find one who does.  However, if you don't want the surgery, the strong narcotic meds are about the only choice you have for pain control.   It also won't help limit the degenerative process at all, and eventually you will probably have no other options except to be wheelchair or bed bound.  I'm sure the pain and the other troubles don't help much with your state of mind or anything else.   A lot of people with severe back pain feel much the same way, so even if you don't feel great- at least you know you are very normal.  One other thought for pain control would be to find a pain management clinic.  They may have other suggestions, including a TENS unit.  I'm not the expert with any of that- beyond knowledge of the basics, I'm afraid.  I think you are at the point you really need a good orthopedic surgeon and to consider surgical options.

Answer 2

Have you thought about wearing a SACROILIAC BELT  (aka SI Belt) around your pelvis? What it does is that by providing the correct balance of resistance and resilience, the SI belt re-establishes the joint’s normal motion,  thus relieves stress and instability at these weight bearing structures, such as disc.

The price of SI belts are in reasonable range these days, average cost is about $40 USD. I know a lot of people who wear SI belts, and I've read some astonishing testimonials about it. There are many  si belts out there, but Serola SI Belt seems to be the best one as far as quality, comfort, and price are considered. Check out their website for more: http://www.serola.net/product_new_sac_be...

I think you buy directly from their website at: http://serolabelt.com/new-serola-sacroil...

Also checkout SACROTRAC. I believe it is a dual purpose pillow for subluxation. It might be even better for you.http://www.serolabelt.com/sacrotrac-2.as...

Hope it helps, good luck to you!

Answer 3

Have you tried Epidural shots or ststeroid shots. If not you may need to see a surgeon. Other than back surgery, meds is your only choice.

Good luck! I have back trouble too.